The Wasp Class is the US Navy's large-deck multipurpose amphibious assault ship. The mission of these ships is to enable the Navy and Marine Corps team to accomplish smooth transition from the sea to the land battle, primarily as the centrepiece of a Navy Amphibious Ready Group (ARG). A multi-mission amphibious-ready group is fully capable of amphibious assault, advance force, and special purpose operations, as well as non-combatant evacuation and other humanitarian missions. LHDs embark, transport, deploy, command and fully support all elements of a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) of 2,000 Marines, inserting forces ashore via helicopters, landing craft and amphibious vehicles. The Wasp Class is the first specifically designed to employ air-cushion landing craft (LCACS), and to carry a squadron of Harrier II (AV-8B) STOVL (Short Take Off Vertical Landing) jets for operational support. LHDs are fully-equipped with command and control systems for flagship command duty. The Wasp Class carries a mix of assault helicopters, plus six to eight Harriers for close air support.
The ship's air traffic control system supports simultaneous Harrier and helicopter operations on the ship's 819 ft by 112 ft flight deck. The ship has two deck edge aircraft elevators, each 50 feet wide and 45 feet long, with a lifting capacity of 75,000 pounds. The elevators fold for transit through the Panama Canal, and are the largest folding elevators in the Navy. The ship can also fully maintain all embarked aircraft. The ships are armed with two semi-active radar-guided NATOSea Sparrow Missile Systems (NSSMS) for anti-air warfare protection, two Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Systems and two Phalanx Close-in Weapon-System (CIWS) mounts to counter threats from low flying aircraft and close-in small craft. Six Super Rapid Blooming Offboard ChaffDecoy System (SRBOC) launchers augment LHD 6's anti-ship missile defences. Four 50 calibre machine-guns and three 25mm machine-guns are also fitted.
The ship's assault support system synchronises the simultaneous horizontal and vertical flow of troops, cargo and vehicles throughout the ship, for efficient
and fast insertion of forces ashore via helicopters, landing craft and amphibious vehicles. Six 12000-pound capacity cargo elevators transport material and supplies from cargo holds to staging areas for loading. Cargo to be loaded aboard waiting landing craft within the well deck is moved via a monorail system. This system consists of 2900 feet of track in a six-track layout directly over the ship's vehicle storage area and well deck. Five 32-foot cargo monorail trains each with a capacity of 6000 pounds carry material at speeds up to 600 feet per minute (6.8 miles per hour) from the staging area to the landing craft in the well deck.
The ship's vehicle storage area typically accommodates five M-1 tanks, 25 Light Amphibious Vehicles (L.A.V.), eight Howitzer M-198 guns, 68 military trucks (HMMVVVs), 10 logistics vehicles (Dragon Wagons), 12 five-ton trucks, two water trailers, a fuel service truck, four rough terrain forklifts and two generator trailers. These vehicles can be loaded aboard landing craft, and the majority can be rigged for transportation to the beach by helicopter. Off the beach, landing craft are launched and recovered through the very large stern gate which opens the 13,600 square-foot well deck to the sea. This well deck is 267 feet long and 50 feet wide, and is designed specifically for the fly-in/fly-out capabilities of the air cushioned landing craft (LCAC). To launch and recover conventional landing craft, the ship can ballast over 15,000 tons of seawater to allow these craft to float into and out of the well deck. Research Wasp Class
In heraldry, tinctures are the colours. In English heraldry the tinctures comprise two metals, five colours and eight furs. They are symbolised or indicated by dots and lines - a system noted for its convenience and said to have been introduced about 1630 by an Italian named Silvestre de Petrasancta, though some such symbolism has been found predating him. Over the years the method of symbolism evolved, and the modern system was developed around the start of the 18th century.
Each tincture has a name, a title, an abbreviation and a symbolic representation. The two metals are gold, with the title or and the abbreviation or, represented by dots on a white background; silver with the titleargent and the abbreviation arg, which is represented by a plain white surface. The colours are blue, titled azure, abbreviated az and represented by horizontal parallel lines; red titled gules, abbreviated gu and represented by parallel vertical lines; black, titled sable, abbreviated sa and represented by by vertical and horizontal lines crossing each other; green, titled vert, abbreviated vert and represented by parallel lines sloping downward toward the right; purple titled purpure, abbreviated purp and represented by diagonal lines declining from the sinister chief to the dexter base.
The eight furs are not abbreviated, and are known by their titles. They are: ermine, represented by black spots on white; ermines represented by white spots on black; erminois represented by black spots on a background of small black dots on a white background (the symbol for gold); pean represented by small black dots on a white background (the symbol for gold) on black; vair represented by alternating silver and blue spots; countervair; potent represented by alternating silver and blue spots; and counterpotent.
Two other colours were formerly used in English heraldry. These were tenne, an orange-brown colour represented by vertical lines crossing diagonal lines declining from the sinister chief to the dexter base; and murrey or sanguine, a dark crimson red colour represented by diagonal lines from both the dexter and sinister sides crossing each other. Research Tincture
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research ARG
